WCO Secretary General addresses the Geneva Customs Club in honor of International Customs Day

04/02/2021
WCO Secretary General, Mr. Kunio Mikuriya speaking on Zoom
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WCO Secretary General, Mr. Kunio Mikuriya speaking on Zoom

The Customs Club of Geneva celebrated International Customs Day through an on-line meeting that featured remarks from the WCO Secretary General, Mr. Kunio Mikuriya. 

In his address to the Club, Secretary General Mikuriya expressed his appreciation for the tremendous effort by all Customs officers during the pandemic and shared the WCO’s vision for the theme of the year 2021 under the slogan “Customs bolstering Recovery, Renewal and Resilience for a Sustainable Supply Chain”. He remarked on the long tradition of cooperation between the WCO and the WTO and reinforced the WCO's commitment of its continued support to WTO Members for the implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement as well as other areas, such as E-Commerce.

Speaking on behalf of the Club, Mr. Hajarizaka Raminomanana from the Permanent Mission of Madagascar stated: "We are increasingly aware of the magnitude of the challenges we face. The responsibilities of those of us that are based in Geneva are in general terms quite distinct from each other.  But most importantly, we share the same commitment to our code of ethics, which is that of customs, and we also share the desire to build modern customs administrations".

The Geneva Customs Club was created in 2005 to encourage cooperation of customs officials in the trade facilitation negotiations.  It has 19 active Members that have worked for their national customs administration and are currently working at 12 Geneva missions and four international organizations.  The Club has around 40 honorary Members that have left their post in Geneva.

International Customs Day is celebrated by Customs officials worldwide each January 26 to recognize the role of custom officials and agencies in maintaining the flow of goods across the world’s borders. 

A related story can be found at: World Customs Organization (wcoomd.org)

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Eng:  www.wcoomd.org/en/media/newsroom/2021/february/icd-2021.aspx

Fre: http://www.wcoomd.org/fr/media/newsroom/2021/february/icd-2021.aspx